Supporting Our Retailers

Maine’s independent beer and wine distributors provide efficient access to market for all beer and wine brands to all licensed retailers throughout the state.

Much of what we do involves behind-the-scenes logistics using the latest technology to efficiently provide product from producers to retail stores, restaurants and taverns. Maine beer and wine distributors buy product directly from licensed producers and importers. We then stock the products in climate-controlled warehouses and world-class distribution centers. By ensuring there is ample supply of products, distributors help provide tremendous quality and choice to quickly meet the needs of local retailers across the state.

Delivering Choice & Variety

The more than 1,000 varieties of beer and 8,000 varieties of wine we distribute come from producers based all over the country and around the world. In turn, Maine retailers and restaurants can provide their customers with a wide selection of beer and wine labels to choose from. Customers can go into a local country store and buy their favorite microbrew or make a selection from a Maine restaurant’s extensive wine list.

Small, local Maine producers also gain access to a much larger number of retail accounts than they could reach on their own through our experienced beer and wine sales teams.

Ensuring Quality & Safety

While providing choice and value to retailers and consumers, Maine distributors work simultaneously with state regulators to ensure accountability of these unique products and an orderly marketplace.

They also make sure only the freshest, highest quality products make it retailers’ shelves. Each distributor adheres to strict storage and inventory practices to guarantee freshness. If a beer or wine producer should make a recall, sophisticated product tracking systems locate and pull defective products from shelves quickly.

Joe Karter, Owner of Joka’s Discount Beverage in Waterville, Maine,
explains how the local distributor helps his retail location to provide the
most popular beer and wine products to his customers.

Managing Inventories

Distributors purchase beer and wine in large quantities from suppliers. This means we always have the supply to meet the product needs of local retail accounts quickly and efficiently. Frequent beer and wine delivery service ensures popular or specialty products are available for consumer convenience.

Marketing and Promotion

Local distributors produce marketing and signage that consumers see in retail stores.

Maine distributors provide value to producers and retailers when it comes to marketing and merchandising. Producers are invited in regularly to educate our salespeople about their product lines. We also create posters, coasters and other materials for in-store promotion, and assist restaurants with tasting seminars for staff, menu pairings, bar promotions, and eye-catching displays.

MBWD members distribute beverages to thousands of Maine retailers. These range from Mom and Pop convenience stores, local restaurants and taverns to large grocery chains and big box stores as well as the many hotels, motels and sports venues that serve not just Maine residents but the state’s enormous tourist industry. These retail sales and the jobs that depend on them benefit from the advertising and brand equity investments of large national beverage producers. Without such investments, Maine retailers would not have the range of quality products and brand recognition they now enjoy and would have a more difficult time attracting the customers they now serve. The benefits of this national, even international, investment in brand equity are brought to Maine’s retailers by the MBWD.

The local distributors provide retail stores with resources for advertising and the brand equity investments of large national beverage producers.